1. Technical Field
This invention relates to apparatus for ensuring the secure delivery of mail and parcels to household or business premises. More specifically, the invention relates to parcel box for receiving and keeping parcels in a theft-proof manner.
2. Background Art
With a growing internet trade and purchase of goods online there has been an increase in the delivery of goods to the home. Since ordered goods are usually too big to fit through standard mail box, to ensure safe receipt of the ordered goods the customer is required either to be at home at the moment of delivery, or to collect these goods from a post office or seller's storehouse. Therefore there is a need in parcel box on the one part having sufficient capacity to be able to receive large-size articles, and on the other part having means preventing unauthorized removal of articles delivered in absence of addressee.
There are known parcel boxes with different types of locking mechanisms for secure delivery of parcels having a door with means for locking the door when parcel is placed in the parcel room.
Different types of locking mechanisms for parcel box are suggested in CH 597810 (“Mail box”, Int. C1.2 A47G 29/16, publ. Apr. 14, 1978). According to invention disclosed in CH 597810, it is suggested using box in the form of parallelepiped having single-swing door. The door's locking is ensured by lever with latch being put in position of locking by pushing or pulling means actuated by restoring spring and parcel placed in the parcel room. In one embodiment of the known technical solution, the parcel when being put in the parcel room pushes the plate, which actuates lever with latch locking the door of the parcel box. In the another embodiment, the weight of parcel put in the parcel room forces platform downward, which actuates lever with latch locking the door of the parcel box. The door is then unlocked by the owner's key. A major drawback of the known device is that the locking arrangement located in the inner part of the parcel box requires much space for its operation, thus limiting the usable inner area of the parcel box and the size of the parcel, which may be placed therein. Moreover, such locking arrangement contains a number of elements, which have quite short durability and thus limiting the life time of the locking arrangement.
There is known a parcel box having a single-swing door openable, when no parcel is in the box, wherein, once closed with a parcel placed in the box, the door is blocked thereby preventing unwanted removal of the parcel placed therein (WO01/15579A1 “Secure article delivery apparatus and method”, Int. C1.7 A47G 29/14, publ. Mar. 8, 2003). When a parcel is placed in the box on a raised platform, the weight of the parcel forces the platform downwardly, against the action of biasing means such as helical or leaf springs. Once the parcel has been placed in the box, the door is closed. During the closure process the platform is lifted by cam means attached to door. As a result a dowel attached to the side of platform rises above a latch fitted to the inside face of the door as part of projection. At the moment that the door is fully closed, dowel overlies a recess formed by latch. Simultaneously, wedges line up with recesses provided in platform and the platform drops under the influence of the weight of the parcel placed thereon. Locking means such as a key operated lock attached to the side of the box prevents a lower portion of the latch from being pushed back and releasing the door. If a parcel is on the platform, the only way of opening the door is to unlock the lock which frees dowel. A major drawback of the known parcel box is that proper work of the locking arrangement depends on which part of the raised platform the parcel is placed. Also, the lifetime of the locking arrangement is limited due to using of springs and other parts which have limited work resources.
There is known a parcel box (WO/2003/026466 “A case for receiving and keeping parcels in a theftproof manner”, Int. C1.7 A47G 29/20, publ. Apr. 3, 2003) with a door pivotally mounted on the case of the box by means of hinges and having locking arrangement with a pivotal locking lever, which is fitted between two bottoms of the parcel box, and is connected to the lower end part of the locking bar at one end and at the other end, to a swing axle extending transversally of the locking lever and rotatably journaled in the upper bottom. The swing axle is provided with projecting supporting arm which has a support base located at a distance from the swing axle, and that the support base is supporting against the lower bottom when the upper bottom is forced down towards the lower bottom by the weight of parcel placed on the upper bottom. When the parcel is weighing the movable upper bottom down towards the fixed lower bottom, the support base is made to support against the last mentioned bottom. Thereby, the supporting arm pivots the swing axle and thereby the swing arm which again pushes the locking bar up or down so that the locking arrangement is activated. The main drawback of the known parcel box is also insufficient reliability of the locking arrangement. For proper work of the case the parcel should be placed on upper bottom over transversally extending swinging axle or sufficiently close to it. In case a postman will place the parcel at a distance from the transversally extending swinging axle, the locking arrangement will not work properly.
There is known a parcel box (U.S. Pat. No. 1,417,773 “Deposit and collection receptacle”, Int. C1. A47G 19/20, publ. May, 30, 1922) comprising a receptacle provided with an inwardly swinging door, a floor within the receptacle supported for swinging movement, a portion of the floor adjacent the door normally swinging downwardly by gravity, and a latch pivotally supported by said portion of the floor and normally swinging upwardly, said normally depressed portion of the floor swinging upwardly upon imposing weight upon the opposite portion of the floor, said latch holding the door against inward swinging movement when said normally depressed portion of the floor is elevated.
Large sized parcel boxes are usually placed on the floor inside or outside of household properties. In the apartment buildings a number of parcel boxes may be put one to another.
To put a parcel in the parcel box standing on the level, which is lower than the user's waist, the user has to bend down or squat. The user taking out the parcel has to perform similar operations and reach to the parcel placed deep in the parcel box. In such cases another disadvantage of the known parcel boxes is that they are quite inconvenient in use, especially when placed on the floor.